


Luffy Takes a Nap

by wisterinite



Category: One Piece
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Monkey D. Luffy, Getting Together, Luffy's POV, M/M, a lot of cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23606653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisterinite/pseuds/wisterinite
Summary: In which Luffy know what he wants but doesn't know how to go about expressing it.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law
Comments: 11
Kudos: 205





	Luffy Takes a Nap

Luffy was many things: Strong, reckless at times, passionate, stubborn headed...none of these traits equated to weakness. His strong team to back him up only made him stronger, heck, every effort from his team helped them get one step closer towards the One Piece.

So then, what was making him so nervous lately?

He’d asked Nami what island they were going past from, seeing as she had the best sense of if there was an awesomely dangerous mission coming up that was making him antsy. So far none, according to her, and climbing over her shoulders to take a look at the log pose for himself, much to her protests, the still needles also proved her point. So maybe it was the marines around the bend, and Luffy’s supernatural knack for finding danger was kicking in? 

He went to Zoro, who had more of a Haki sense for sensing a nearby danger. Luffy groaned. Zoro also said no, in between snoozing in the sun and waking up to answer Luffy’s question. The light of the sun was meditating Zoro into a relaxed state, post his workout routine, and seeing as his naptime was not soonly interrupted, Luffy had no choice but to wander around looking for something else to do.

What was he doing before, asking people around? Probably ‘cuz he was bored, he figured.

Luffy had a very short term, very selective memory span; also known as: he shortly lingers on one thought before he goes to the next thing on his mind. He would say that it’s a testament that the things important to focus on are the things happening in the present. Anyone who couldn’t keep up just needed to loosen up and have a bit of fun.

The person who he could have the most fun with almost guaranteed was Usopp. Not that Usopp didn’t have downtimes where he just chilled out, almost akin to how Franky would chill out for hours and hours down in his workshop, but Usopp had some of the most energy of the crew, next to him. He could pick up a conversation and get kicking into a game or fight around the ship with him. They would go running, giggling into Chopper’s room, goading him into joining their antics. Or, sometimes they would run into Brook, who would have such fun things to say and contribute to their shenanigans. Or, Zoro would serve as their target for shenanigans, pulling small pranks to goad the stoic swordsman to cracking a smile.

This time, before he could run off to where he saw Usopp, he ran literally into Robin. She’s usually fun to bump into, as she usually has the most insight into what’s the most interesting thing happening on the boat at that moment. Almost like the opposite of Zoro, who looks out for things outside of the ship, she was the best for the inside! It’s such an amazing insight, that he almost forgets to apologize for bumping into her, when she says, “Oh-! Luffy!”

“Ah, Sorry Robin!” He’s about to keep up with his sprint towards finding Usopp, when he spots her company. “Law?”

“Mugiwara-ya,” he acknowledges. Luffy stares at him for a moment, like he’s forgotten something important. Law returns a sort of uncomfortable stare back.

Robin is the blessing that pulls Luffy from his confused state, “Did you need anything?”

“What’re you guys up to?” Luffy turns to conversation, Robin sending Law a small reassuring smile back, and temporarily worsening Luffy’s confusion, answers, “Law and I were about to go read a bit in the Library.”

“Read? You can do that together?” Luffy’s seen Robin read with Nami, although they were usually doing different activities, and exchanging conversation with eachother and Sanji when he came to serve them cakes. He doesn’t remember ever seeing Robin and Law do this before. His question is justified, he tells himself.

“Yes, we were just getting through the discourse of one of our favorite series.” She pauses, maybe for dramatic effect, “ ‘Monsters and Disfigurement’.”

Luffy’s about to make a face, when he sees Robin giggle, and Law looking back at her glance with near equal amusement. Well, that wasn’t fair-.

He doesn’t continue with that train of thought, just waving them off with a “-have fun!” and continuing his earlier quest to find Usopp that he hadn’t nearly forgotten from seeing Torao.

“USOPP!!!” Barreling over, he makes his way to his first searching spot, and that is underneath the orange tree. Usopp’s temporary sanctuary, at least to lift the sweat from his brow from under the harsh sun, was the shade of this citrus tree, hardly swaying in the gentle breeze of the Sunny.

“Luf--” Usopp barely has any time to respond as Luffy’s charge makes impact, causing the air to rush out of his lungs. They miraculously roll away from the trunk of the tree, avoiding any nasty head injuries, as Luffy ends on top of his disoriented friend. Pulling his cheeks apart, he sticks out his tongue.

“Blehhh~.” He knows to quickly jump up after making a taunt like that, skipping just out of Usopp’s grasp and running further out towards the railings. Usopp’s yelling after him, pursuing him just like he’d hoped. 

“Lu-LUFFY!!!” They run around the deck for a bit, before Luffy backtracks, causing Usopp to yell in fear as Luffy fakes him out of another tackle. He instead jumps up on his head, using it as leverage to hop onto a branch of the orange tree, having made it all the way back to their starting point.

Luffy dangles a bit on the tree, waiting for Usopp to recover and come back over to him. While up there, he notices something laying on the floor by the tree stump. At letting go with a grunt, he crouches by it, on further inspection noticing that it’s...

“-a new sketchbook!! Cool!!” He’s enthused by this now, and Usopp leaning on his knees panting, nods.

“Yeah,” He wipes his chin from the surprised spit he’d let out in the messy hustle, and flops down beside the inspected object. 

“...can I see?” Luffy noticed over the times that he’s known his friend, that Usopp appreciated it when people showed an interest in his art. Although, Usopp had a specific desire to have people show their interest first before he showed any art to them. He wouldn’t let people snoop in his collections of sketches without his explicit permission, this lesson Luffy learned the hard way, ending with a couple of bruises on his head and a peeved Usopp. Usopp would, however, show them to his nakamas if they asked, and he would talk about his drawings, like how he went about them or where it was drawn.

“There’s not a lot in it yet,” Usopp tells him, already picking up the journal. Luffy scoots up beside him so that they’re laying down side by side. Luffy nods, even though Usopp’s comment will have zero to no effect on the drawings at hand. Although, he did really like the drawing of the Franky mech in Usopp’s other journal...he would keep his mouth shut for now, because Usopp’s opening the book to the first page. 

“This one’s in the mess hall,” he explains, a finger going from the door to the long table in view. “Sanji was cleaning in there, and had left his dish rag on the table at some point, and I thought it looked cool, with all of its folds and stuff,” Luffy takes in how Usopp’s controlled the light in the indoor space, or the lack thereof, with the soft shadows and the lines that implied the fires burning in the lamps. Luffy would never have the patience to do something like this, but he really appreciated the talents of his nakama, where it really showed through, such as in this piece.

“Then, there’s this one today..” Usopp seems more bashful about this one, as he usually did about his figure drawing. This one contained Robin, Nami, Law, and a small figure that must have been Sanji poking his head out of the kitchen. While their cook is resembling a small scribble in the background, Nami and Robin have the best detail, from the curve of their jaws to the sweep of their hair. Law--...is that Law?? --looks like an impression of a person, almost akin to Brook’s ghostly form, poking his way out of a wall, making Luffy question what he’s looking at. 

Usopp’s probably made the same deduction as him, moaning, “I couldn’t get Law’s...anything right. He’s a bit of an intimidating subject to draw, so I didn’t look at him for too long to be honest.”

“Hm, really?” He didn’t think anyone was still wary of Law. Maybe it’s the same way on how Usopp was afraid to get bluntly criticized by Zoro for his art or something. 

His suspicions were along those lines, because then Usopp says, “Yeah, well. I didn’t wanna offend him if he didn’t wanna be drawn...”

“Humm,” Luffy sits up, crossing his arms thoughtfully. Why would Torao be offended? 

“You know...it’s like, someone trying to take your picture?” At Luffy’s stronger, confused hum, Usopp sighs, “Geez...you really don’t get manners, do you?”

“It’s like...” Luffy continued, despite Usopp’s given-up manner. He bops his fist into his hand, a thought formed, exclaiming, “A compliment.” Luffy nods.

Nami would usually get very proud and strut whenever she would hear that someone’s taken her picture or drawn her. In fact, besides just drawings and such, everyone liked compliments! Probably… “Hey, hey Luffy~.” Usopp waved his hands in front of Luffy, “What are you thinking of.”

Luffy turns to his friend’s suspicious face, cheeks pinching up into a grin. “Hehehe...I can prove it to you.”

“What’re you going to do...” Usopp grimaces, tucking his little book away into his pocket. Luffy rubs his hands together and rocks back up to his feet.

“I’m going to prove,” he points towards the sea, Usopp commenting ‘where are you pointing to,’ declaring, “Everyone likes. Compliments.” This was as if this was some grand thing, which it was. It wasn’t as if he never proved Law’s accountability, by trusting him on the ship in the first place, and even though they weren’t nakama...it almost felt important to include Law in their shenanigans. That reminded him...Why were him and Robin hanging out, if that never happened before? They weren’t nakama, and Robin usually made a point of keeping her distance from strangers.

Maybe Robin got it, Torao’s charm about him, that made Luffy himself wanna befriend him. And maybe she too, wouldn’t mind being interrupted with Luffy’s little compliment game, because she knew as well. His heart twinged at that thought, making him more determined, and as he was brought back to hearing Usopp muttering “Oii, oii, Luffy, that’s not a good idea-.” he’d made up his mind, strutting across in Robin and Torao’s footsteps.

He didn’t hear Usopp’s footsteps behind him, meaning he wasn’t going to personally witness the results of the game. Whatever, Usopp would believe his word for it, whatever the outcome. He would have to, and then he could continue his drawing of Law in closer detail, and then-!! Well, that was all there was to it. 

He might’ve slammed the door open a bit too loud, because it made the two of them jump up from whatever they were doing. Luffy ignored that, scanning his eyes and locking them with Law’s. He looked nervous under Luffy’s appearance, as per usual, but maybe also because he had a serious expression on his face.

“Torao-.” Luffy’s breath got caught up in his throat for some reason, preventing his next words from coming out. His mind blanked. What was he going to compliment him about?

Maybe this was a bad idea after all. Looking across Law’s form, there wasn’t much that he couldn’t compliment, he squinted, but with so many choices what could he choose?? He liked Torao’s…

“I like you.”

Robin and Law both looked shocked.

Maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words. Suddenly, Luffy regretted his decision at letting him know. But wasn’t that weird?? If he was complimenting anyone else, they would’ve reacted normally. 

Then why did Torao look so shocked?? And Robin for that matter. He complimented his Nakama all the time...oh no, was it bad that he complimented someone he’s only friends with? His face heated up with embarrassment from his potential mistake. 

“What’s the matter with you two..?” He glared at them. Well, Torao was his ally and his nakama were his nakama. He could compliment anyone he wanted, hell, he could compliment a complete stranger if he had reason to. In particular, Robin’s shocked gaze wasn’t affecting him as much as was Law’s, burning into his turned away face. Was Torao glaring at him?? Robin was turned more towards Torao, as if also waiting for him to respond.

Luffy marched up closer to him, annoyed at the silent treatment. “Well?” Luffy barricaded him in with his arms, hoping that it would prevent him from turning his chin away from him. Luffy felt that he was a bit entitled to a response, seeing as that Law usually expected answers from him whenever he talked to Luffy.

That didn’t stop Law from trying, staggering back a bit towards the wall. “I...” When he saw that Luffy’s tactic was working, Luffy smirking victoriously at him, he uncrossed his arms and began pushing his head forcefully back, while saying “I know!!”

He...knows? That was an answer, maybe almost as confident as Nami would’ve said so, except Law wasn’t wavering on the point. Most of his nakama would deny the compliment, however, like most of them also, his embarrassed face gave his appreciation of the fact away. This delighted Luffy, and he would’ve given a cheer if not for his face meeting the carpet below.

Looking up, Law was doing the thing where he puts his head down and hides his face. It might’ve been working to shielding himself from Robin’s interested look, but from Luffy’s position down here, he could see the corners of Law’s mouth working and the cute redness blooming on his face. Luffy gave himself away, giggling from the floor.

“Shut up!” Law raised his foot as if to kick him, instead resulting in nudging his sides annoyed. This sensation caused Luffy to laugh harder, Law pressing, “What’s your point?” Luffy let him take out his frustrations until he let in, Luffy giggles dying out as he does. Sighing, Luffy gets up on his feet, hands on his hips.

“Torao knows!!” he exclaims, looking to Robin, although she probably doesn’t know much of what’s going on. “Torao knows~!” His second cheer causes him to remember that he’s won, and he needs to go report back to Usopp. He dashes out of the room, leaving a steaming Law and a snickering Robin behind.

Maybe he was correcting a point in his brain, that Usopp wasn’t the only most fun person on the ship. Law came pretty close to the most interesting. Maybe if Law wasn’t so annoyed, he would’ve stayed a bit even, and Luffy found himself looking forward to when he could go have more fun with him again.

Bursting out onto the deck again and almost hitting Usopp in the face with the door, Luffy rounded on his heels still very proud of himself. Torao knew!! That meant that Usopp could draw him whenever he wanted. Most importantly though, it meant that he acknowledged that they were somewhat friends, because...well, /however/ it did. He was blooming himself, because Torao accepted that Luffy liked him, and that was very important to Luffy. It might’ve lightened his heart pains from his morning, in fact.

“Luffy...” Usopp held his nose, calling Luffy’s attention. Oh, he must’ve hit Usopp in the face with the door after all.

“Hi.”

“Well??” Usopp opened his hands, throwing them to either side of him. When Luffy cocked his head at him, he grabbed Luffy’s biceps and shook him. “What happened??”

“Oh!!” Luffy remembered, “Torao knows!”

“...” Usopp waits desperately for him to continue, but presses, “he knows what?!”

Luffy giggles, picking his nose. “I like him.”

Usopp drops his hands, bowing his head. Usopp is usually dramatic like this, so Luffy waits until his head raises again, and Usopp is giving him an exasperated look.

“How the hell is that a compliment.”

Luffy’s grin disappears. “What do you mean.”

“You didn’t say it like that, did you??”

“Of course!” Luffy huffed. Usopp was making a big deal out of nothing. A small part of Luffy felt tentative, asking himself, wasn’t he?

“What does that even mean?” Usopp was usually smart, but right now he was being very stupid.

Luffy sighed, getting exasperated himself, retorting, “what do you mean, ‘what do you mean’? It means I like him!” His voice was raising in volume, causing Chopper to pause in walking by the two of them.

“I know!! What does that mean?!?”

Chopper pipes in, “What’s the matter you guys?”

“Luffy thinks that it’s okay to--!” While Usopp is yelling back to Chopper how frustrating Luffy was being, Luffy interrupts him.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you!” Luffy yells back. Although...Oh! Was it that Usopp just didn’t get how liking someone was a compliment? “Are you stupid?”

“HUH??” Chopper shrinks back from Usopp as he reacts to Luffy’s comment.

“If you like someone, it’s a compliment.” 

Usopp holds his head in his hands, refuting, “No!!” He looks up to Luffy, and says earnestly, “If you like someone, you give them compliments. You don’t tell them directly that you like them.” 

The gears were working in Luffy’s head. Did he not play the game right, earlier? “Hm...”

“If you do, that’ll just weird them out! That’s not cool at all.” Usopp exhaled, “Honestly...”

“So...” Luffy needed help coming to a conclusion.

“He probably hates you.”

“EHHH?!?!?!” Both Chopper and Luffy react, Chopper chiming in, “Really?!?!”

Torao...hates him now? Just because he had to go and tell him directly how he felt. But...what Usopp was saying felt right. He wouldn’t normally just go and tell his nakama that he loved them. Even though every action and word towards them usually spoke for themself, saying it directly would be overly mushy, and exactly how Usopp said, they would probably hate him. Maybe it was like how Sanji declared his love every other day towards the ladies, that if felt more insincere, because they never reacted positively towards his advances. In fact, they almost seem repulsed by it sometimes. Was Law repulsed earlier, when he’d declared what he had? Did he look at him the same way that Nami looked at Sanji when he would day by day? Luffy couldn’t remember. 

Chopper pats his arm, with a concerned look on his face. “I’m sure Law-kun doesn’t hate you.” Luffy looks down to him with a pout on his face. “You guys have been traveling together so much now, I’m sure that won’t be the case.” Luffy sucks in a wet breath, although the snot still hangs around his lip. Usopp’s chosen to step back as Chopper comforts him, Luffy notices with a quivering lip.

What should he do? Chopper answers that thought, “Maybe...you could ask him how he feels in return?”

“No.” It’s Usopp who speaks, “That’ll just make it worse. I think that you should keep your distance, just like he does, and let it simmer down. Obviously he can’t hate you more if you don’t interact with him.”

Neither options sounded appealing. Chopper’s suggestion sounded like something that Chopper would do, and Usopp’s sounded like what Usopp already does. Luffy shook his head. He needed to do this his way.

“Thank you...guys,” he smiles, sucking in finally the last bits of weepy left in him. With that, he goes towards the bow of the ship. 

If he wanted to ensure that Law didn’t hate him, and maybe even liked him, he had to put in the effort. Sure, Law already did everything he could for Luffy to like him. Law was on his ship, he had a cool hat, he had a cool attitude, and he was a captain just like Luffy. Although that was enough for Luffy, Luffy wasn’t sure what Law would like him for.

But maybe it was also like what Usopp said before his bad suggestion, that Luffy needed to show that he liked him, more than just saying it. That made the most sense to him. That also had to be the highest form of compliment, Luffy realized. 

With those things in mind, Luffy felt a bit more confident that he could still win the game. And besides that, Luffy really liked the idea of trying to show Law how much he liked him. It gave him the same kind of adrenaline rush that he felt going into a new island, or fighting a really strong opponent. Pondering on what he should do, he couldn’t help but fall back on the lion’s face in excitement when imagining a cool thing to do for him.

“YES!!!” He cheered, rolling over onto his belly, hanging over the side with glee. This would be one of the most terrifying yet exciting adventures yet.

Luffy wasn’t very good at sticking to plans, once they got to the exciting parts. Maybe that’s why, after dinner, his voice got caught in his throat.

He’d asked Law, in the middle of dinner, to stay after with him once they’d finished their meals. This was a new request, and Law gave him a rather pensive pause in response, before agreeing. Luffy had eaten with a fever afterwards, bouncing up and down in his seat, and maybe stealing more food than he should have from poor little Chopper’s plate.

“So? What do you want,” Law asked, cocking his head to the side patiently. Luffy wished to absorb a bit of that patience, or else he wouldn’t be stumbling over his words like this now.

“T-T-TORAO!” He forgot what he was going to say.

“Mugiwara,” he returned.

“I...wanted to ask,” Luffy began, but then couldn’t come out to say what he wanted. Law rolled his eyes.

“Is this...about earlier?” Luffy jumped, having been caught. Law looked like he was trying to discern Luffy right now, so Luffy, instead of disagreeing like his mind was telling him, nodded. NO NO HES GOING TO SAY THAT HE HATES HIM--he needed to steer the conversation. It wasn’t as if Torao asked him to come out here, it was the other way around. Law sighed, “That’s what I--.”

Luffy didn’t know what to do, so before Law could continue, he stretched his arms out and grabbed his shoulders. He zipped up to him, from the head of the table to next to him, to practically in his lap as Law began to tip back from the momentum. “Room,”

Next thing he knew it they were sitting on the couch, falling onto it with a thump, about a three feet apart. Law crossed his arms, closing his eyes as he collected himself and Luffy got a hold of where he was. Luffy was curious...would he do it again?

Luffy scooted closer, walking with his knees on the cushions. Law cracked his eyes open at this, following his movements towards him. Luffy grinned, reaching a hand towards him...and clapping it on his shoulder. Less than a moment later, Law grabbed his wrist, holding it away from himself, watching it as it dangles like a noodle before him.

Law wordlessly quirks an eyebrow at Luffy. Was that a challenge?

Luffy winds his wrist around Law’s, surprising him just long enough to close the distance between the two of them. The face that Luffy receives this time is just as inviting, however much startled Law was, as Luffy’s legs straddle Law’s. “I win!!” 

Luffy’s laugh is cut off by another “Shambles” as Law is replaced with a chair, and Luffy has to look to either side of him, before realizing that Law was no longer in the room. Why did Law look like that if he was just going to run away? He remembers his challenging smirk, the way his lips curled up like he was just containing his own excitement, and jumps up and out of the dining area, calling for him.

“Toraoooo!!! Toraaaoooooooo!” He looks a bit outside on the deck, when something falls from the sky, hitting him on the head. “Ow!”

“Mugiwara.” Luffy looks up and sees that Law is standing up on top of the mast.

“Torao!” Closing one eye for aiming purposes, he launches an arm towards the spot next to Law, swinging himself up to the top with a rubber-snap of his arm. He stands up on it as much as Law is, this time sending him a questioning look.

“You wanted a fight, didn’t you?” Law clicks his sheathed sword, pointing at Luffy to punctuate “Fight me.”

“Fight you?” Luffy... didn’t want to fight him. That’s not at all how you become closer with somebody. Is that what they were doing?

He never initiated a fight quite like this before then. “Yeah,” Law hums. “You’ve been pushing at me all day, haven’t you?”

“Have I?” Pushing? Like, making fun of him? He wasn’t making fun of him. Luffy’s excitement at this ‘challenging’ prospect was leaving him the more that Law spelled it out for him.

Law must’ve picked up on this cue, as he relaxes his sword against his shoulder once more. “I don’t want to fight you,” he offers.

“...” This is the best that anyone’s picked up on Luffy’s emotions all day. Maybe that’s because they had to do with Law himself. “I don’t want to fight you,” Luffy echoes. “I want to hang out with you.”

“Why?” Law’s face was hidden from Luffy’s, and this must’ve been because he was either embarrassed or disgusted with the idea. Was it that bad of an idea, or was he really confused as to why?

“Because I like you.” Luffy said it again. He could hear it now, coming from Usopp in the future gawking loudly at what Luffy had said to him. So what?? It was the truth. And coming from Torao...Luffy knew that would mean a lot to him, for some reason. That wouldn’t stop Law from hating him, but…

“Why?” Again? Why would he even need to ask that?

“Because Torao is cool.” Luffy blushed. He was a little mad that he needed to tell him, but looking at Torao’s face...or, at least the half that he could see, Law wasn’t joking. Either, Torao didn’t know that he was cool, or he didn’t know that Luffy thought he was cool.

Torao was smart, with how much he and Chopper talked to one another about surgeries and such. Torao was calm and collected, easily falling to the back in order to keep watch of himself and everyone else when they went on adventures. Torao was kind, from the little thank you and smiles in response and in kind to his nakama. He would help gather supplies for them when they were low, and would make it a ton easier as well with his devil’s fruit powers. And above all, he was gently careful, a flash of awakeness washing over Luffy as he sees Law in the submarine, working to pull Luffy together from his broken state.

“You...idiot.” Law says. Law releases a breath he’d been holding himself, chin raising again so that Luffy can see that he must have been holding his breath for a while, to have such a red face. It’s a good look on him though, Luffy showing his teeth, delighted.

Maybe this meant that Luffy could finally follow through with what they were doing earlier. Or, at least, what he’d meant to do.

Luffy snakes a hand towards Law and grabs his hand. Law didn’t jerk away or try to remove his hand from his, so Luffy took that as a good sign.

It sort of felt like the weakness in his chest from earlier was either letting up a bit or strengthening tenfold. Luffy felt like he was post battle, even though he didn’t physically fight anyone, but he was just as elated. What was wrong with him?

“What are you doing, Mugiwara?” Law’s attention erased those worries, causing him to cheer. Next thing he knew it, he’d thrown Law over his shoulder- “Ah-!” and jumped off the mast. 

Landing on his feet, he asks Law, “Where do you wanna go?”

“Down,” Luffy feels Law squirm on his shoulder, hands propping up on his back. “On the ground,” he describes blandly. 

Luffy looks to the ground and says, “Sounds fun!” This is the only other warning Law gets before Luffy is tipping forward. He rolls over them until they are both laying on their backs opposite of one another, heads next to eachother. Law, the man who calls ‘Shambles’ all the time, is disoriented. Luffy feels like that’s a bit of victory, but none more than up on the mast when he’d held his hand. Luffy flexes it beside him, the memory of Law’s awkward grip on his palm.

They lay there wordlessly, and Luffy is pleasantly aware of Law remaining in place, even as the atmosphere gets a bit safer than the excitement of earlier. Eventually, Luffy falls asleep in that spot.

When he wakes up again, it is nighttime. Brook had played a song for him to wake up, letting him know how late it was. Luffy was grateful for it, as sleepy as he still was, as he didn’t like sleeping out under the stars when his nakama weren’t around. 

Getting up, he still felt sluggish, probably because of the lack of light out. He yawned. Looking over towards the back of the boat, he could see Franky’s form keeping watch tonight. Dragging his eyes over, he could see one more figure leaning over the rails, Torao.

He smacks his lips happily, remembering today, so decides to meander over to him, swaying all the way.

“Toraoo~,” he calls softly, landing into his back. Leaning heavily into him, Torao grunts.

“What are you doing up?”

“Mh. I could ask you,” his finger noodles up to boop him in the nose. Law jerks away funnily, making him giggle. He finishes, “-the same thing.”

“...It’s nothing,” he eventually answers. That’s the sort of thing that someone says when they wanna hide something. Luffy winds his arms around Torao’s waist, giving his stomach a sympathy pat.

“Mh,” Luffy murmurs, feeling Law stand up straight from leaning on the rail, although he holds Luffy’s hand on his midsection to keep him there, meaning he didn’t mind it.

“Mugiwara,” Law calls to his sleeping mind. ……. Huh?

“Huh?” He pops awake again. 

“You should sleep,” he states, and Luffy winds his arms twice around his midsection.

“Okay,” Luffy agrees, and begins to fall back asleep. He can feel Law’s hands claw at his arms.

“Mugiwara..!” He feels Torao stagger a bit and thinks that that won’t do, so he scoots up his frame so that he’s being fully supported by Law. Law’s sweatshirt has rode up due to this, as he wears Luffy like a tube top with legs for a cape, so he shivers, sending a similar feeling through Luffy’s frame.

“Torao~.” He nuzzles into his hoodie, using is as a makeshift pillow.

“M-...” Torao grunt in turn. It’s a nice sound, Luffy thinks, thoughts getting foggier by the minute.

It’s inky blackness, but Luffy can hear, “Mugiwara,” in the night, and it brings him immense comfort, rocking him to sleep.

He wakes up alone. It’s a usual occurrence, seeing as he was a late sleeper, but for some reason it felt empty to him. He frowned. This was a similar feeling to the previous morning, and for the life of him, he couldn’t tell why.

All he knew, this time, was that he had a craving. Or, two to be precise. One, the usual: Food. Two: Torao. Not that he would eat him, literally, but he would definitely eat up all the attention that he could get from him, hopefully all positive.

“FOOD!!!” He bellowed, knowing what he had to do today.

He actually didn’t see much of Law that day. Apparently, Law and Robin had an agreement previously that they would attempt to get through the whole series of, what Luffy dubbed, ‘creepy, long, boring books’ before they got ashore. So, when Luffy went bounding over to where Law was after dinner, he and Robin were already situated underneath the mast, pouring over the book and speculations about it. This of course, drove Luffy away very quickly.

Luffy decided to hang over the railing instead then, fishing pole in one hand and face on the other. Chopper, shortly into the afternoon, perched up beside him. It’s a pleasant wait overall, but soon Chopper breaks Luffy’s droll over how big of a sea king he plans on catching today.

“Hey, Luffy...”

“Uhn,” he grunts.

“I was wondering about your confession yesterday...”

“My what?”

“When you...said that you liked...” Chopper is bashful, and squeaks, “Law-kun.”

“Mh,” Luffy nods, “What about it?”

“Ah, well. I’ve, never been in a relationship before, so I’m sorry if this is intrusive, but...” Chopper shifts, weighing his words in his head. “What is it like?” he blurts.

“What is what like?” Luffy asks, then feels confused when Chopper jumps in his seat. 

“L-liking someone...”

Luffy hadn’t thought about it much. “I hadn’t thought about it much.”

“You haven’t??”

“Mh, no. Not a lot’s happened today, so I don’t know if it’s supposed to be any different...” Luffy tucks the fishing pole inbetween his arms so that he can cross them over his chest. ”I don’t know.”

“Oh.” 

They both look out into the sea for a few minutes. The waves roll by calmly, no signs of any fish yet, as their wooden floaters bob just above the surface.

“Do you?” Luffy asks.

“I-I-I-I Of course not!! Well, maybe!! I don’t know!!” Flustered, he sputters, “I’ve never met someone like me before, so I wouldn’t know if I’ve ever really like anybody before!!”

“Oh. That’s true.” Luffy thinks for a moment. “It’s probably for the best.”

“W-Why?” Chopper asks.

“It kinda...hurts.”

“...” Chopper blanks, before exclaiming “Eh?? Where?? Why didn’t you tell me, idiot?!”

“I forgot!” And Luffy had. Maybe it was because he wasn’t focusing on it when he was paying attention to fishing earlier, but now it was back, talking about Law. Chopper is already on his feet, checking over Luffy’s form.

“Where does it hurt?” Chopper is serious, causing Luffy to spit a bit, chuckling. “What?! It isn’t funny, stupid!” He hits him on the arm over and over.

“Sorry, sorry,” Luffy apologizes, wiping a tear from his eye, “I meant that it’s kinda lonely.”

“Lonely?”

“Yeah. Like.” Luffy mulls over the weight in his chest. “Or, like there’s unfinished business.”

“Well,” Chopper starts, sitting down again with his fishing pole. “He’s over there.”

Usopp’s words that Law could hate him repeats in his mind. That couldn’t be. He sees Law and Robin sitting quietly with one another, each’s face buried in a book. He smiles.

“Thanks, Chopper!” He waves to him, bounding off just as his fishing pole starts to wiggle. He hears Chopper’s yell of alarm as he makes his way towards Law, jumping up on the seat and settling behind him.

“Mugiwara?” Law looks back at the intruder, while Robin pays him no mind. He’s got his hands on his shoulders, and he sits down, legs spreading to either side of Law.

“Hi,” he giggles at Law’s confusion. To Luffy’s surprise, Law ignores him, and goes back to reading his book.

“Hey, hey,” he pokes Law’s cold cheek.

“What?” This time, when Law turns his face back to look at him, Luffy presses his cheek to his. Law’s sideburns surprisingly don’t cause rub burns to the side of his face, despite the name. He only feels a slight tickle and Law stiffening up at the action. It causes a big smile to form on Luffy’s face, Luffy’s shoulders shaking with each snicker. “Really...” Law mutters, turning his face down to read some more.

It’s not the most comfy spot, but Luffy feels himself melt into it anyways. And he doesn’t find himself getting bored either, from messing around, or talking to Robin, or playing Law’s hat or hand. Law’s hat is very cushiony, made of thick material that bounces back into shape when pressed into. Meanwhile, Robin would sometimes mention what Law’s face was doing to him, when he asked, which was immensely entertaining to him, especially seeing as Law so tried to keep his expressions a secret.

Law’s hands were the best things too. He mostly got ahold of only one, as the other was being used to hold his book. They were just the right size for holding, it seemed, fitting in his like a missing glove. They were a bit longer than his and a bit colder, for comparatives. A fun thing too, was that when he squeezed it, Torao would squeeze back. It made him feel all warm and tingly inside when doing so, causing him to end up completely kidnapping the hand in the end.

“Are you turning pages with one hand?” Robin asks Law, being nosey in perfect straw hat fashion.

“My hand got tired,” Law replies easily back, having dealt with Luffy’s and Robin’s on and off teasing for about an hour now. While he says this, Luffy tests to how it feels on his face. Without prompting, it moves up to the top of his head, gives it a scratch, and yeah, that feels good.

Robin watches as Luffy leans into Law’s hand, humming at her observation, and returning to her reading. Even as his hand stills, it remains on Luffy’s head, and Luffy can feel himself start to drift off as a result.

There’s no harm in a power nap, he supposes. Eventually, his body tips into Law’s shoulder to which the hand is connected, and stays there slumbering for another 2 hours. He can faintly hear Chopper and Usopp cheering at catching whatever fish he’d abandoned before, and he drools as he imagines tasting it.


End file.
